Strong auto sales boosts June wholesale trade

OTTAWA (Reuters) - A surge in auto sales helped Canadian
wholesale trade rise by 2.0 percent in June -- the largest
margin since February -- and beat market expectations,
according to Statistics Canada data on Tuesday.

Automotive sector sales rose 10.6 percent from May and
helped give a 4.2 percent boost to the struggling manufacturing
province of Ontario.

Market analysts surveyed by Reuters had forecast a monthly
rise in wholesale trade of only 0.7 percent. It was the fifth
increase in six months and left sales 5.0 percent higher than a
year earlier.

In constant dollars, sales still rose by 1.0 percent from
May. The data will contribute to the notion that Canada's
economy may have escaped negative growth in the second quarter.

Wholesale inventories rose by 1.2 percent in June from May
but because of the strong sales increase, the ratio of
inventory to sales fell to 1.23 from 1.24 in May.